The formation of the ideal man in the 18th Century German Enlightenment is based on the concepts of Bildung and Einbildung—the idea that one should not simply look at the world, but observe it and attempt to incorporate it into oneself. In Lessing's Emilia Galotti and Goethe's Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers and Faust, we see three attempts at this formation. In these works, however, there is something that prevents each person from reaching this goal. In this paper, I will examine how the concepts of Bildung, formation, and Einbildung, imagination, contribute to failure in this process. Arguing that historical and biblical ownership of women creates a system in which the male gaze is an active projection on a passive female object, I will show how obsession with images and idealizations of the women in these works necessitates destruction of both the viewer and the viewed. The women in these works who become the focus of this visual attention that transforms into an unstoppable compulsion are on the receiving end of many types of expectations and desires. Whether from family, society, or religion, Emilia, Charlotte, and Margarete all face conflicting idealizations about how they should perform their roles as women. They also become objects of desire in the eyes of men. Objectification of women, sometimes literally in the form of a portrait, sometimes figuratively as a recipient of an expectant look, provides multiple canvases upon which this Enlightenment idea of Einbildung allows men to project their wishes and desires. As the women attempt to reconcile the expectations of society, male desire, and their own sensuality, the men attempt to reconcile the idealized version of women they have in their heads with reality. In this impossible process, each character is consumed by this unattainable image of what it means to be the perfect woman who demonstrates both virtue and motherhood, both demureness and desire. I will argue that the reconciliation of sensory and sensual images of women with conflicting ideological images, often created by society, perverts the process of self-creation in Lessing's Emilia Galotti and Goethe's Die Leiden des Jungen Werthers and Faust and turns it into the destruction of an enlightened self—a negative creation, which I will call consumption. I will conclude that the expectations of the male gaze are morphing from men having unattainable ideals and tearing themselves apart trying to attain them into females consuming one another in an attempt to satisfy this gaze. I will pose the problem faced by women who do not capture the gaze, which is not as safe a position as it might seem, and I will offer a possible solution to the problem of the male gaze: the female voice. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 31, 2017. / Consumption, Einbildung, Goethe, Lessing, Male Gaze, Women / Includes bibliographical references. / Christian P. Weber, Professor Directing Thesis; A. Dana Weber, Committee Member; Tatjana Soldat-Jaffe, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_507676 |
| Contributors | Hickey, Courtney Elizabeth (authoraut), Weber, Christian (professor directing thesis), Weber, Alina Dana (committee member), Soldat-Jaffe, Tatjana (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Arts and Sciences (degree granting college), Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, master thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (46 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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